


Offerings

by FeelTheFiction



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Peter Pan & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bargaining, Deals, F/M, Tension, kind of unresolved sexual tension?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 10:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17078876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeelTheFiction/pseuds/FeelTheFiction
Summary: In which Pan offers his Wendy Bird a deal.





	Offerings

The trees seemed to react to his presence. 

Every time he was near the dark leafy branches that surrounded her, and from which her cage hung, would sway in a sudden mysterious wind, as if they were being brought to life by the energy that flowed from his very being. This was why, when she noticed the giant leaves at the end of the path moving back and forth, creating a wave of soft wind that travelled down the overgrown trail until it gently rocked her bamboo prison, she knew that he had come to see her. 

“Hello, Bird.” He said from below her. Wendy rolled her eyes at the smugness in his voice, choosing not to respond. She knew that would annoy him, and of the few pleasures Wendy experienced in her dreary life, irritating the boy king of Neverland was her favourite. She continued to lay still on her back, diagonally across the square bottom of the cage, enjoying the motion her personal prison as it swayed to and fro in the breeze. “I thought I’d come and pay you a visit.”

How glorious, she thought, to be graced with a visit from such a pretentious little boy. In all honesty, Wendy had grown tired of being afraid of him. Long gone were the days where she would beg to be let out of the cage, to go home to her parents and her brothers. After an unmeasurable length of years on this godforsaken island, the once proper Darling girl from London had lost her ability to care about going home, about the morals her mother had raised her with or even the love they once shared. She never did accept her imprisonment, but Wendy would sooner die than fall at the feet of the boy king again. 

Pan didn’t like this. It infuriated him to see that she had grown a backbone, that she wouldn’t play the part that he designed for her on his own personal stage. On mornings like this one, when the jungle buzzed with news of his arrival to the cage, signalling another attempt to get a rise of his imprisoned Wendy Bird, she would hardly regard him and take little notice of his taunts, which irritated him greatly.

When she didn’t answer his previous statement Pan decided to continue. “I have a deal to offer you.” He stated. He used the low tone that he did when he was being serious. Wendy raised her eyebrows and smirked. A deal? He’s probably going to offer me freedom. Well, freedom from this cage, in exchange I’d probably have to surrender any free will, or my ability to defy him. 

Wendy decided to humour him. “A deal you say? What kind of deal?” She pulled herself up into a sitting position and met his gaze. Peter Pan, in all his boyish egotistical glory, was leaning arrogantly against the tree closest to her cage. Wendy couldn’t deny that she enjoyed looking at the brat. It was a plain fact that he was extremely attractive, which made him even more dangerous. It was Pan’s mischievous smile and captivating emerald eyes that made Wendy fall for his charming act in the first place, which obviously didn’t turn out well. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t still admire his looks, there wasn’t much else to look at where she was anyway. “What are you going to offer me?” 

Pan pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against, uncrossing his arms and sauntering towards where her cage hung. He untied the ropes that secured the cage in the air and began to lower it down. Wendy watched him as he worked the cage to the ground. His arms had always been quite muscular, and she used to imagine what it would feel like to be held by them, to be touched by his strong weathered hands. Too bad he turned out to be such an asshole. 

The cage thumped as it reached the forest floor. Pan let the ropes rest back on their tree branch and walked over so that he was standing in front of where Wendy sat in her makeshift prison. He fixed his gaze on her through the crisscrossed bamboo bars and she met his stare with equal determination. “What I’m going to offer you, my Bird, is freedom from this cage.” Pan said.

She rolled her eyes and began examining her fingers. “I thought that was what you were going to say.” She said. 

“Is that so?” Pan chuckled, leaning forward and resting his hands on the top edge of the cage. “Are you that hungry for your freedom, Bird?”

“No,” Wendy replied. “You just have nothing else of value to offer me.” 

“I have plenty of things that I could offer you Wendy…” he said huskily, leaning down so that his face was just above level with hers. 

Despite her sheltered English upbringing, she knew what things he was talking about; adult things, things that were kept behind the bedroom doors of married couples. But Pan was mad if he thought she would ever succumb to that. Wendy curled her fingers around a polished bamboo bar and leant forward, her nose almost touching the walls of the cage. “I want nothing from you Pan.” Her face was neutral, something she’d mastered over decades of imprisonment.

Pan smirked, his eyes gleaming with confidence. “Not yet perhaps, but I’m sure in time you’ll come to crave things that were forbidden in your oh-so-sophisticated London society. You have been on this island a very long time Bird, and I’m sure you miss the touch of someone else.”

Pan brushed his fingers over Wendy's knuckles as he spoke, his gaze shifting to her small, pale hands. Wendy withdrew her hands from the cage bars and sat back on her elbows, acting bored of the conversation. She made sure her nightdress slipped down her thighs far lower than what was deemed appropriate. “You didn’t come here to try and seduce me, Pan.” She said bluntly.

“Didn’t I?” He raised an eyebrow. From the way his eyes had flicked to her legs, she knew he definitely noticed the scandalous shift of her nightgown hem. 

Wendy smiled to herself at this. “What did you want from me in exchange for being let out of this cage?” She asked. 

Pan pushed himself off the cage and began slowly pacing in front of it. “As you know Wendy, I am the closest thing Neverland has to a king. And that’s worked fine for me for me for decades, centuries even. But recently I’ve come to the realisation that my dominion over this island would be… improved, if I had a queen by my side.” 

Wendy burst out laughing, throwing her head back and clutching her stomach. “Your queen?” She managed to say between intakes of breath. She hadn’t heard anything so hilarious in centuries. “You want me to be… your queen?” She put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to subdue her laughter. 

Pan stopped pacing and turned to stare at her. His face turned solid and his eyes narrowed. “You think this is funny, Bird? I’m offering you a way out of your prison.”

After finally gaining control of her laughter, Wendy sat up and folded her legs underneath her, leaning her shoulder against the cage wall. “The prison you put me in Pan.” She said. “Did you honestly expect me to not laugh at this ridiculous request?”

“I thought you would have valued your freedom more than this.” He replied, crossing his arms. “I guess I was mistaken.”

“Freedom? From this cage, sure. But that’s not real freedom, is it? Not when I’m still on this island. Under your control.” Pan looked at her, but didn’t answer so she continued. “What would being ‘your queen’ entail anyway? I doubt you want to marry me.”

Pan scoffed. “Of course I don’t want to marry you.”

“Then what do you want?” 

“I want you by my side, to help me rule.”

“You already have Felix for that.”

“You possess qualities Felix doesn’t.”

Wendy’s eyebrows raised. “What qualities?”

Pan gaze seemed to intensify with every word spoken between them. “Kindness. Objectiveness. Persuasion. Empathy.” He said.

“That’s a bit vague, don’t you think?” She said.

“You keep Boys’ spirit alive with your stories, and you’re able to ease tension between them when they fight.” Pan locked eyes with her as he continued. “You would be useful to me against our foes if you cooperated. Your charm has proven that it can sway our enemies in our favour. No one expects a sweet girl to be so dangerous.”

“Oh yes, I’m so very dangerous, being cooped up in this cage for… I don’t even know how long.” Wendy said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t know if I even possessed those traits anymore. And the Boys certainly wouldn’t respect me after I’ve been your prisoner all these years.”

“Then you make them respect you.” He said. Pan walked over to the cage and leant against it once more. “You’ve gained my respect, it can’t be hard to gain theirs.”

Wendy laughed humourlessly. “And how, o-mighty Pan, have I earned an honour so high as your respect?” 

“You’ve overcome your fear of me.” He stated simply. “I understand that I can become a little, eccentric, at times-“

“That’s one word for it. Insane is another.” She interrupted. 

He ignored her and turned so his back was resting against the cage. “And since you’re not afraid to tell me when you think I’m wrong, you’d be perfect to have at my side; as an advisor of sorts. Of course when you agree to be my queen this kind of opposition will be displayed solely in private.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m going to agree.” 

“Why wouldn’t you?” Pan turned to her and scrunched his eyebrows together in a show of false confusion. “I’m offering you a position of power, and as much freedom as you’re ever going to get.”

“You’re offering me a chance to be another one of your toys that you will use and discard as you please.” 

“I doubt you’d ever let yourself be used as a toy, Bird. Even before I found you, you had more willpower than that.”

Wendy scoffed. “Right, so I wouldn’t be a toy. Instead, I’d just be a voice the background that tells you when you’re acting a fool, which is constantly, and then God knows you’d probably ignore anything I had to say anyway.” 

“You’re not listening to me Bird, that wouldn’t be your only duty. As well as aiding me with my rule you will be a mother figure to the Lost Boys, my female counterpart in a way. You will settle their disputes, tend to their wounds, make the transition from home to Neverland quicker and more bearable.” 

“You want me to indulge the kidnapping of children?” She scoffed. “Like I said, you’re insane.”  
“It’s not kidnapping when they ask to come here.” He replied. “As for your living conditions, obviously you would no longer be in this cage. You may have your own private quarters, yours to be decorated and furnished as you wish. That is if you don’t wish to join me in mine.” Pan quirked an eyebrow as he smirked. 

Wendy let out a dry laugh. “As if I would ever crawl into your bedchamber. You’re nothing but a boy - only a man could give me what I truly need.” 

Pan blew an annoyed breath of air from his nose. Wendy thought he would have been able to turn someone into stone with the hardened expression that appeared on his face. “I may be a boy, but I am much more powerful, more capable, than any man.” He lowered himself into a crouch in front of the cage. His face was only inches away from her own, separated only by the bamboo prison bars. “I can provide for you and satisfy your needs more than any of your English suitors would have been able to. When you become my queen, you may have anything that you desire.”

She smiled humourlessly. “Anything?” She asked. “Except for freedom from this island.”

“That was obviously implied,” Pan said, his face still neutral.

“How about a family?” Pan stiffened, his eyes flaring in anger. “Would I ever be able to have that Pan? Someone to love me? Because we both know that’s another thing you cant give me right? Love? Are you even capable of it?”

Pan’s eyes drilled into Wendy’s. His calloused hands made their way to the crisscrossed bars of the cage, clenching deadly fingers around the wooden poles. His breathing had become heavier, and he looked like he could snap at any moment. But yet he said nothing, so Wendy took a sudden interest in her fingernails. 

“No, I didn’t think so.” She sighed, turning over her hands.”What about a friend at least? Another girl? You can’t expect me to retain elements of motherhood if the only company I have is rowdy boys.”

Pan didn’t answer at first, assumably trying not to lose himself to his temper. “That can be arranged.” He said after a long pause. “If that's what you desire.”

“And these private quarters of mine - I want total dominion over them. They will be the one place on Neverland where you have no authority. I want to be in complete control of something, at least.”

Pan let out an annoyed breath, his jaw clenching as he continued to grasp the bars of the cage. “Fine. But that is the only place on Neverland that you will have higher authority than me. The rest of the island is my domain.” 

Wendy looked up from her hands and gave him her sweetest smile. “Then I will consider your offer Pan. If you nothing else to say, you may leave.”

Pan scoffed. “Oh I may leave, may I?”

Wendy tilted her head innocently. “Yes. That is what I said.”

Pan stood up, rolling his shoulders back as he turned around. “Careful Bird, you’re not my queen yet.” He said, adding, “I’ll return tomorrow at dusk for your answer, but I’m sure I already know your decision.” 

Wendy could practically hear his smirk as he walked away, but smiled nonetheless because she knew she had gotten under his skin.  
Peter Pan’s queen… The thought seemed beyond disturbing and yet she couldn’t help but be tempted by his offer. It would be nice to sleep in an actual bed, to interact with people and to tell her stories again. And even though Wendy said she would never, she began to wonder about the possibilities of Pan’s… companionship. 

Wendy had been on the verge of womanhood when she took the hand of Neverland’s shadow. ‘An age almost suitable for marriage’, as her father had put it. Those forbidden desires that had clawed their way into the Darling girl’s mind had not disappeared when she got to Neverland. 

And Pan was one of the most attractive boys she had ever laid eyes on.

However, she knew the chances of this childish marriage-like thing he had offered her working out were very slim. Even if she agreed, he’d probably just throw her back in the cage when he got bored with her. And she refused to sacrifice what little dignity she had left by agreeing to his deal.

No, she would refuse him. And if he wanted her as his queen that badly, then she would have him beg for it.


End file.
